Unrated tornado, North Osceola to Torin, New York, August 7, 2023

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unratedthis tornado

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

Unrated

Date

August 7, 2023

Touchdown

7:27 PM EDT (23:27 UTC)

Lifted

7:30 PM EDT (23:30 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000

County

Lewis County

Touchdown point

43.540, -75.700

Lift-off point

43.550, -75.690

Record number

2308071727-01

27 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BGM and NWS BUF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A weak surface low tracked across western NY to the northeast of Lake Ontario from the afternoon to the late evening hours. Building instability and increased wind shear ahead of the low supported clusters of severe thunderstorms beginning late in the afternoon across the northern Finger Lakes. Additional northward moving severe storms that exhibited low-level rotation formed early in the evening in a narrow corridor from central New York to areas east of Lake Ontario. In addition to wind damage and large hail, two tornadoes occurred over northeast portions of Oswego County and southern portions of Lewis County during the evening. Eventually, storm surveys confirmed that one of these tornadoes near West Leyden New York to Turin New York tracked 16 miles with observed damage indicating peak winds up to of 140 mph or EF-3 strength. After the tornadic storms diminished, additional storms with very heavy rain tracked over portions of Oswego and Lewis counties from late evening into the overnight hours. These storms which trained over similar areas produced 3 to 4 inches of rain with multiple roads flooded and a few roads entirely washed out.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo used Sentinel-2 satellite|imagery and found tornadic damage in Lewis County. A damage scar |was found using difference techniques of satellite imagery. The |scar was found in a wooded area east of North Osceola Road in the |Town of Osceola. A damage survey could not be conducted due to |limited access into the wooded area. The tornado is thus rated|EF-Unknown.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo completed a storm survey in Lewis County for damage that is confirmed to be tornadic from Monday evening. Initial damage from the tornado occurred in the Town of Lewis to the west of West Leyden along Mud Lake Road that included uprooted and snapped hardwood trees, significant damage to two homes that included roof uplift and near total removal, a wall blowout of a garage, and the complete destruction and shift from the foundation of a barn. Damage in the initial portion of the track generally peaked at EF-2. The tornado then continued northward and crossed Fish Creek Road with damage to another home that removed the roof and caused significant damage in the walls of the second level of the home. It also did significant damage to a second barn and snapped many hardwood trees.||After moving north of Fish Creek Road, the tornado crossed a large swamp with evidence of full defoliation of a few hardwood trees in the swamp. Tornadic damage become less continuous north of this point without good road access to the track through swampy land. Convergent track damage again resumed well southwest of the Town of Turin, hitting the town water tower. The tornado then continued northward as it paralleled West Road. Continuous uprooting, snapping, and occasional defoliation of hard and softwood trees was evident for a long portion of the track until it reached Snow Ridge Ski Resort. Upon reaching Snow Ridge Ski Resort, tree damage increased to snapping of hardwood trees at the rootline and some defoliation. On the ski resort land, all of the chair lift metal cables failed, some chair lift structures were overturned or damaged, and the track of damage greatly widened as the storm continued north- |northeastward. The greatest damage along the entire track of the tornado was from Snow Ridge Ski Resort to the West Wind Motel in Turin. Several structures saw completed roof failures, interior wall failures, window failures, and a one multi-story building was shifted from its foundation with its entire roof removed. The tornado lifted after affecting the West Wind Motel with damage ceasing from this point as it crossed State Route 26.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

30 minutes of warning. NWS BUF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:57 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

Griffiss AFB / Rome (RME), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Ft Drum radar (KTYX), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:25 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.